Quest for the Best Tenants

December 07, 2023

Quest for the Best Tenants

If there’s one area of any business today that’s paramount, it’s new customer acquisition. Your pipeline should be full of great prospects.

And the full potential of a great tenant is a form of value that some landlords may not take seriously enough.

It starts with marketing and careful screening and ends with higher asking rents and long-time leases.

And right now as you struggle with your tax owing, mortgage and financing renewal rates, and tenants struggle with their rent price, student loans and credit cards, job security, and consider other rentals with discount offers, the word quality comes into focus.

We’ve outlined some tenant retention tips for you, but right now it’s back to the topic of acquiring the very best tenants. Of course, the Fair Housing Act has its own interpretation of quality, but in the end, you need to attract the best. It’s your investment and you want to bring in reliable, conscientious, loyal and financially-enabled tenants.

Build a Continuous Pipeline of High-Quality Prospects

It’s wise to create a pipeline of high-quality renter applicants via various marketing channels including Google search, syndicated rental listing portals, paid advertising, and your company website.

Finding and acquiring great candidates depends on your marketing mix from writing vacancy listings, to engaging visuals and enticing descriptions of your rental units on your website, to tactical placement of advertisements on listing portals.

These are all doable on the ManageCasa property management software platform. Using our system, you should only be attracting great candidates who will make your business successful.

Top Goal: Attract the Cream of the Crop

If your renter acquisition process is sound, and you’ve presented the opportunity to your ideal renter in the right channels, locations and times, you should be getting high-quality tenant candidates.

10 Characteristics to look for in High-Quality Tenants:

Stable Income: Tenants with a steady, verifiable employment and high levels of income are more likely to consistently pay rent on time. The cost of living, high average rents, commuting costs, student loans, and more will present real issues for many average renters. Those with solid employment and income power can weather these continuous economic pressures.
Sincere Interest in the unit/building: This neglected signal tells you whether they’re really into your rental. If they’re not excited and don’t ask questions and want you to like them and want them, then will they stay when there’s some sort of trouble or greener pastures? Do they fit into the situation or will they be constantly at odds with neighbors? (e.g., party animals).
Good Credit History: A positive credit history reflects the prospect’s financial responsibility. Check their credit score and look for any major red flags. A few late credit card payments over many years might irritate lenders, but if they’ve paid their rent reliably for 10+ years, then it’s not a problem for you. History tells you they will pay their rent on time.
Rental History: Contact previous landlords to inquire about payment history. References are a weak guide since landlords might not speak their minds for fear of lawsuits. Look for application fraud and fudged information.
Employment Stability: Tenants with a stable job history are more likely to have a consistent income, reducing the risk of missed rent payments. If an ambitious job hopper is a problem, it’s only because they may not have sufficient savings or perhaps don’t plan their progress well enough. Discontent is a signal they may not stick around.
Clean Background Check: A clean criminal background check adds to the sense of security for you and your neighbors (I view background checks more as a legal matter and a risk matter). Some landlords scan the web and social pages for signs of drug use or irresponsible behavior. Driving records are another signal source.
Good Communication Skills: How the individual applies, speaks with you on the phone and responds in an interview, tells you a lot about them. Tenants who communicate effectively are respectful of your need to know them. They’re more likely to be open and honest from that point on. They may be less likely to get into open conflicts.
Respect for Property: Look for tenants who demonstrate respect for the property during the showing and express a commitment to maintaining it in good condition. They will be custodians of your rental property. Ask them about how they took care of their units in an open-ended question and then confirm the points with their previous landlords.
Long-Term Plans: Tenants who plan to stay for an extended period may be more likely to take better care of the property and be reliable in meeting lease terms. Speak to them about a 2-year lease.
Character References: Professional and personal references can provide additional insights into a tenant’s character and reliability. Ask unique questions that require unique answers and thus make scripted responses difficult.

An additional tool you may want to consider is handwriting analysis. Professional handwriting analysts can see character issues in handwriting and point out important positive and negative traits. Handwriting is an observable behavior — more or less speech on paper.

All in all, a thoughtful, strategic tenant acquisition process is going to create some gems for you.

Take some time now to discover more on tenant acquisition strategy to find the best tenant, crafting strategically strong vacancy listings, using your marketing website optimally, and providing virtual tours.